Texture: Depending on the style of kitchen you choose, the texture of the kitchen finish will come in to play. Let's say your choice is a contemporary kitchen, then you will have the choice between a high gloss or matt finish. High gloss kitchens are still very popular, but expect to see more matt finishes in 2011. High gloss kitchens are easy to clean but can show up marks and finger prints quite easily. Matt finishes are easy to keep but don't show up marks as much as high gloss.

Bold and bright kitchen tiles may be required to introduce some life and fun into your kitchen. There is no rule to say that your tiles have to be neutral and blend into your kitchen, use colourful tiles either for the entire kitchen wall, on the kitchen splashback or as a decorative border of strip of tiled colour. There are plenty of colourful tiles on the market, a popular colour that stands out is red, which can make a statement in your kitchen.

Kitchen lighting fixtures nowadays often include spectacular above cupboard lighting with some great options to choose from. For our kitchen, long arm halogen lights spaced at regular intervals, were perfect, and have proved to be an essential addition, particularly when removing items towards the back of the cupboards! Under the cupboards, above each of the work spaces, we chose a number of evenly spaced halogen lights with triangle-shaped glass covers that perfectly fan out the light across the counter top area.